THE career of the headmaster of a leading private school was in ruins last night after he was found guilty of stealing a #250 golf club from the exclusive Gleneagles Hotel.

Kenneth Milton, headmaster of Dollar Academy junior prep school, had denied stealing a pitching wedge from an unattended bag at the Gleneagles Hotel on August 25, 1996.

Milton was filmed concealing the club under a sofa and returning to the hiding place later that night. He maintained it had been a ''prank''.

He also denied stealing a second wood from the hotel on the same day. That charge was found not proven against him.

Milton was stunned when the guilty verdict was announced. Fining him #200, Sheriff Kevin Veal said: ''It is always a tragedy when anyone enters the dock and especially when the accused is a person of high public profile. But justice must be applied fairly and evenly.''

Milton who has been suspended from Gleneagles Golf Club membership for the past 18 months now faces the possibility of losing his job.

As he left the dock, he turned to his wife, Ginette, and said: ''How could that be possible?''

Earlier Milton, 44, told the court, that he had only discovered the wood in his possession when he arrived home. He said: ''But I am not sure whether I picked it up by accident or whether it might be the same club that my brother lost around that time.''

Perth Sheriff Court heard that Milton, a keen golfer, had gone to Gleneagles to practise on the ranges and to have lunch with his wife.

Milton, who plays off a nine handicap, explained that he had hidden the wedge club under a couch, thinking it belonged to another Gleneagles member who had beaten him in a round of golf.

He said: ''I have always been involved in practical jokes. It is just the way I am.''

The court heard that Milton had been soundly beaten by golfer Alan Kelly in the quarter finals of the annual Gleneagles scratch contest.

Milton said: ''On the day of the final, I went to check the score board. I thought I recognised Alan's bag in a recess by the stair.

''I took the club out and hid it under the couch. I went for lunch and told my wife about the joke.''

He added: ''A prank is only a prank if you can see the person involved. But I forgot all about it and went home.''

Club security cameras filmed Milton, of MacNabb Street, Dollar, hiding the club at around 2pm. They also filmed him returning in the evening searching under the couch for the club.

Depute fiscal Ann Orr put it to Milton that he had returned to Gleneagles intending to steal the club he had earlier hidden.

But Milton replied that he had hoped to return the club to its rightful owner.

He said: ''I didn't want Alan Kelly to think it was a case of sour grapes because he had beaten me earlier.''

Ms Orr said: ''You tell us you were playing a practical joke on a person you hardly knew, on the same day he was playing in an important match.

''On the same day you were also practising your golf and came away with an extra club. That is not the innocent explanation.''

The court then heard from Milton's brother that he had lost an identical club to the wood Milton was accused of stealing.

The rector of Dollar Academy, Mr John Robertson, described Milton as ''entirely trustworthy''.

He said: ''Kenneth Milton has been a head master for 10 years. He is a first-rate school master, a good colleague, and a family man who I have always found to be entirely trustworthy.''

He added that if Milton was found guilty, the governors of Dollar Academy would have to consider his position very carefully.

Milton declined to comment to reporters outside the court.

Later a spokesman for Dollar Academy revealed that Milton had offered to resign from his post.

The spokesman said: ''We learned with much sadness of the verdict from Perth Sheriff Court. At this time, we extend our support to Mr Milton, who has been through an ordeal during the past 18 months.

''Mr Milton has written to the governors to offer his resignation. This matter will be considered in the near future by the executive.''